“There is nobody close to Scully”

I was out at the end of the football season, doing a California-Stanford football game. And at halftime, the engineer handed me a note and said, “Ernie Harwell has joined Russ Hodges at the Polo Grounds.” So, flying back to New York, I kept thinking, “Well, who are we gonna get? Who are we gonna get for the third man?” Then I said, “That red-headed fella that went up to Boston did a good job,” so I sent for him, and talked to him for a little bit. And I said, “Would you be interested?”

Well, his eyes got big as teacups. So I said, “You’ll have to go and talk to Mr. Rickey.” Well, in a bout an hour, Mr. Rickey called back, and he said, “Walter?” — he always called me Walter — he said, “Walter, you’ve found the right man.” And that was the beginning.

That’s right there’s no one like Scully, and sadly there doesn’t seem like there ever will be again. Firstly because they have to cram 3 guys in the booth so they can yammer on about everything, and, more importantly, the idea of the narrative in baseball seems to have gone out the window, and it’s all “he’s hit 3 runs in 7 innings against left handed pitchers under 6 foot tall in sub-60 degree weather!” and random quips about mostly boring statistics. I love statistics and statistical analysis and the truth stuff like sabermetrics yields, but man oh man do I love a good baseball story, a real narrative, and Vin Scully is a man who appreciates that.

As a young broadcast major with an eye towards the commentary box, I’ve followed three rules that I’ve made just from listening to Scully on Gameday Audio:

—Silence is golden. Sometimes just hearing the crowd react is better than saying something stupid.—Get the fan interested in the player or game. Stats are great, and educating fans on newer metrics is what I’d like to do a bit, but sometimes they aren’t as good as stories or other things that humanize the players.—Economy of words is key, especially on television. You’ve got a visual medium, so why not utilize it?

As a lifelong Giants fan, I can honestly say the only good thing to ever come from Da Bums is Vin Scully. What a treasure! I’ve made sure both my boys have had the chance to listen to his TV broadcasts. Close your eyes and just like listgenong to him on the radio!

But I loved the Red Barber narrative. Sounds like he spoke as colorful and fluently as he wrote. Thankls for sharing this!

Scully SUCKS! He never shuts up and he has no humor! He must have never heard the expression, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Jon Miller is a real announcer and he adds to the game . . . Scully smothers the game with his incessant yapping . . . G